Meeting of the Parliament 28 January 2016
I thank the Justice Committee, the clerks to the committee and the people who gave evidence during stage 1 scrutiny of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill. I also welcome the support for the general principles of the bill that is given in the committee’s stage 1 report.
Abusive behaviour in our communities should not be tolerated. Such behaviour can rob people of their dignity and cause lasting scars on their lives and the lives of their families. Tackling it requires a bold response, so a strong and well-targeted police presence, effective prosecution and a court system that is equipped to deal with it are crucial. However, our laws must also recognise that aspects of abusive behaviour can evolve as technology advances and our understanding of the different elements of abusive behaviour improves.
The bill will ensure that the many dedicated people who work in our criminal justice agencies are better able to deal with abusive behaviour and sexual harm so as to improve the opportunities for access to justice for victims, enhance a justice system that puts victims at the centre while maintaining the appropriate balance for the rights of the accused, and increase public confidence in the justice system.
The Justice Committee focused much of its stage 1 scrutiny on two key aspects of the bill: statutory jury directions and the intimate images offence. We are pleased that the committee—unanimously in relation to the new offence and by majority in relation to the jury directions—supports those two sets of provisions.
The Scottish Government included in the bill the provisions on jury directions to deal with the unfortunate fact that some members of a jury will take with them into the jury room preconceived ideas and ill-founded attitudes about how sexual offences are likely to be committed and how someone subject to a sexual offence will likely react.
Some members of the public continue to think that someone who carries out a sexual offence will almost always require to use physical force, that the person subject to the sexual offence will almost always offer physical resistance and that a report to the police by the victim about the sexual offence will almost always be made immediately. It is unfortunate that people who hold such unenlightened views can allow them to cloud how they assess the evidence in a case. There is comprehensive research that shows that people react in many different ways when a sexual offence is taking place and in the aftermath of an offence. That body of research shows that it is a perfectly normal reaction for a person not to offer physical resistance or report the offence for a period of time.
It is critical that, when jurors make decisions about the guilt of an accused, they consider only the evidence that they have heard in the case. The intent behind jury directions is simple: we want to ensure as much as possible that the jury’s focus is only on the evidence that is laid before it and that any preconceived ideas and ill-founded attitudes do not play a part in the jury’s decision.